“Master! You shouldn’t overdo it!”
“Hey, it’s not just me pushing myself… You guys are having a tough time too, right?”
As Yeon-hee said, the summoned creatures had undergone a grueling quest filled with dozens of deaths.
Although their physical abilities would recover upon resurrection, they still bore the memories of their deaths, making it mentally taxing as well.
“Uwooor…”
“Churarak…”
“Krrr…”
That being said, they couldn’t compare to Yeon-hee, who handled all the summoned creatures simultaneously. The summons looked at her with pitying eyes, filled with concern.
“But still, the acid stockpile operation was a success, right?”
“Of course! Thanks to Master’s ingenious plan, the Cursed Giant Tribe couldn’t do a thing!”
They gathered a massive amount of Tarantula’s highly condensed acid and poured it all into the mouth of the slowed-down giants, who had been overwhelmed by Katopas’ petrification attack.
With that, they were finally able to take down the giants, who began collapsing from within.
Of course, this was also possible because Il-wol and Yeon-hee had been able to share one stat even when separated.
Yeon-hee had invested all the summoning scrolls she’d gained while leveling up in dungeons to elevate her ogre legion to 40 members, enhancing them to Alpha-rank.
With high agility, dodging the giants’ attacks became easier, and having merged ogres added plenty of leeway in combat.
Still, the reason they had lost seven times was due to time limits.
The Alpha-rank ogres were continually scanning the surroundings.
With 40 of them combined, their intelligence had improved slightly, and they realized that they were supposed to protect Yeon-hee.
That such a monstrous being, over 6 meters tall and capable of tossing the cursed giants around, existed solely for the purpose of guarding one person was impressive.
“Reliable, huh?”
Yeon-hee nodded vigorously, expressing her joy at the growth of her summoned army.
“Guys, anyway…”
Yeon-hee pulled out two brilliant summoning scrolls from her space and said, “Now we can combine different types of summons, and I got these too!!”
– Uwoooooooo!!
– Kya-ha-ha-haaaa!!
At Yeon-hee’s shout, the summons all roared in unison.
Since Il-wol had shrouded the area around them in Dark Space, the soundproofing was perfect, allowing them to let out their loud cries without disturbing anyone elsewhere.
Hearing the mighty roars, Yeon-hee quietly read through the new summoning scrolls she’d obtained.
“Blessed Transcendence Summoning Scroll!! Wow! It’s one rank higher than the fortunate Mystic Summoning Scroll I drew last time from the castle!! Isn’t the name really cool?”
– Uwoooooo!!
– Fibryn!!
Even Fibryn, who had just crawled back to the pond to stabilize, clapped her flippers in agreement.
“I want to open it together with Il-wol when he gets here. Ugh… I can’t stand the curiosity.”
Having obtained not one but two Transcendence Summoning Scrolls as quest rewards, the temptation to open one immediately tickled her throat.
“Oh my, this is not good.”
As she squirmed and expressed her dilemma, she already unfolded the massive summoning scroll and tossed it to the front yard.
The long scroll unraveled and rolled for a while before finally stopping.
“What an awfully long spell.”
Letting out a short sigh, Yeon-hee began reciting the lengthy spell with Nefie’s help.
And a few minutes later…
“Uh… why is the weather suddenly like this?”
A storm accompanied by thunder and lightning swept across the sky.
It seemed to rage as if asking who dared to summon it.
Goooooo───
────?!!
A colossal being that cast a shadow over the front yard emerged silently, flapping its immense wings.
The wind generated by it forced even the Alpha-rank summons to lower their upper bodies.
Hooowww─ Buuuuuuun──
The being spun around swiftly, seemingly curious about the new world it had entered.
“Wow— it’s incredibly fast!”
Certainly, that being had once commanded the world with glorious wing beats. It had such an overwhelming presence that made her absolutely certain of it upon sight.
“Haha! Did I really summon that?!”
It was far more surreal than when she had summoned the Sword Dragon.
In fact, the Sword Dragon bowed its head in reverence to the new summon, showcasing just how magnificent it truly was.
“Il-wol! I want to show it to Il-wol quickly! He’s definitely going to love it!”
Yeon-hee was more excited than ever.
“Oh no! Someone mustn’t see it!”
In a hurry, Yeon-hee canceled the summoning, feeling an urge to call Il-wol right away.
“I have to hold on.”
If Il-wol missed this important moment, she should send a signal at the promised time.
“I miss you… Il-wol… Hangyeol…”
Just as much as she wanted Il-wol to return to her side, she missed him terribly.
But no one could have predicted that their meeting would be unintentionally delayed.
* * *
Kwahng! Bang bang bang!!
“Ughhh!! Damn you, monsters!! Aghhhh!!”
In the innermost room of the hideout.
A man was throwing a fit on the bed, screaming in agony.
With the dragon’s wings torn and sprawled out awkwardly below, red liquid poured from his burst heart, spilling like rain onto the writhing legs.
It was no minor injury.
It was ludicrous for a human to be alive with a heart ripped out.
[It’s going to take some time.]
“Time or whatever, it hurts!!”
Even if the Seven-headed Dragon borrowed its body for healing, it was a deep wound that wouldn’t heal easily.
[… …]
The Seven-headed Dragon gazed quietly at Jo Gi-man, who was wailing in agony.
The Evil God, having consumed several dimensions, was deep in thought.
[He’s not a bad guy, but… strangely, things are not going well. Why?]
The Seven-headed Dragon had a high regard for Jo Gi-man.
It had nothing to do with Jo Gi-man’s clumsy behavior or rash actions; it was simply that it was rare to find someone who could accept it.
Such a possibility was so rare that it might be hard to find even one existence that could meet that criterion across a dimension.
Jo Gi-man obviously met that criterion, giving him plenty of attention from the Seven-headed Dragon.
A being with the potential of an Evil Dragon.
That was what Jo Gi-man was.
The Seven-headed Dragon wasn’t precisely sure what the criteria for that potential were.
However, it merely guessed that it could be related to beings influenced by the scattered shards from the beginning in the distant past.
“Ughhh!! Seven-headed Dragon!! Seven-headed Dragon!! Just ease the pain a bit! I feel like I’m dying, damn it!!”
Rather than trying to overcome the crisis, he focused desperately on finding another way.
Even if that appeared to be an ugly sight to others, escaping immediate pain was the priority.
It was something a being with the insignia of the Evil Dragon should naturally have.
But it also should be done prudently, considering the time and place.
The Seven-headed Dragon was currently contemplating seriously, and the result might lead to a replacement of the incarnation.
Of course, Jo Gi-man had no idea about this, hence his wild outbursts.
[That guy… would be a perfect seed for the Evil God.]
Today, he fortuitously discovered a unique entity dressed in full-body armor.
It wasn’t quite human or monster, but something new altogether.
It was strange to feel déjà vu, but to one with the ability to rewind time, that wasn’t unusual at all.
[To possess both the aura of water and fire… where on earth did such a hybrid come from? This world line is truly… interesting. Fun… very fun.]
If possible, it wished to have a bit more of a ‘conversation’ with that entity.
[To strike down that loathsome blue-eyed one, a twisted power like that is needed…]
It was too tempting to destroy, but directly intervening in the world would mean a massive consumption of power, a perilous act.
But wasn’t that why it had worked so hard up until now?
The Seven-headed Dragon gazed quietly at Jo Gi-man, who was maintaining his dragon form without needing to infuse any energy.
[I’ve been waiting for a long time. As always, I must endure…]
The Seven-headed Dragon tried to suppress its desires with its distinctive glint in its eyes.
Yet the thought of the armored figure lingered.
[Is the singularity trying to alter me as well?]
Becoming controlled would be troublesome.
[In order to defeat that blue-eyed one… …]
Eventually, the Seven-headed Dragon decided to move to its own space and steady its energy.
As the Seven-headed Dragon’s aura faded, Jo Gi-man’s vision briefly caught sight of a ring he had never seen before.
“This… is it an item to gain a new skill? Cough— Cough— Damn.”
Once equipped, light shot from the ring, pointing in a specific direction.
– A small quest to find the fragment of the Goddess of Water Ryun has been assigned!
Simultaneously, that message popped up.
“Cough, spit! Finally, a decent quest has come. If it had come a bit sooner, I wouldn’t have had to go through all this pain. Seven-headed Dragon.”
Jo Gi-man paused his healing, reading the quest details multiple times.
“Kukuku— I was wondering where it would pop up from, and here it is?”
His eyes elongated vertically with glee, revealing a peculiar smile.
* * *
“Hahaha, how long will it take to recover?”
In the lowest part of the hideout.
A man lay on a bed, wearing a relaxed smile.
Dnarr Panijial.
He felt better than he had in a long time. It could very well be one of the best days he’d had since entering this world.
“It should be enough in three days.”
“Good. This operation went very well. I was a little worried since I joined in a hurry, but the result is superb.”
“Is it alright that there was a bit of a dispute with the seer at the end…?”
“Are you talking about Inessa? Don’t worry about it. She may act emotional on the surface, but I can see through her. She’s as cold as ice. Surely, the day will come when she’ll need me again.”
“That’s a relief. However, since the materials are exhausted, it seems challenging to summon the Great Beast for a while. It’s true that many in the organization are harboring doubts after this incident…”
He pushed too hard.
That was certainly true.
The sudden appearance of the seer.
It was all hastily prepared due to her astonishing proposal.
“I’m fine with it. You can ignore the minor details. Jo Gi-man inflicted a fatal blow on that monster; that’s what matters most. With that injury, it’s likely… he’ll face permanent damage.”
“That’s good news to hear.”
“Right? Huh- By the way, how’s the upgraded ‘Tooth’? Don’t tell me I have to gather more materials. I don’t want to go back to that smelly dungeon.”
“It shouldn’t be difficult to create a few specimens with the materials you provided last time. The metropolitan area is a bit daunting, so I plan to release them in other regions to test their performance. What do you think…?”
“Do it! If you can kill loads of hunters, that’s all the better. Hahaha—”
The energy enveloping Dnarr radiated a bright light, lifting the spirits of the man who had long served as an aide.
That evening, Dnarr’s assistant selected a region to release the newly improved ‘Tooth.’
“This looks good. It’s a place where many hunters are particularly ranking up lately. Crushing the newly sprouted shoots would surely lead to greater despair, right?”
The time to summon the orc legion would soon arrive.
Before that, it would be wise to escalate the chaos level.
Whoosh—
As the assistant departed, documents fluttered momentarily in the gust.
At the top of the reviewed data was the guild ranking of the region with the most dungeons, excluding the capital, and in third place was the newly formed guild called ‘Cheonsudan.’
* * *
In the sandy dune where his feet sank deeply.
A man in full-body armor stood helplessly, scanning his surroundings.
Beside him lay a middle-aged woman in very poor condition, collapsed.
‘What the heck. Where the hell am I?’
When he regained consciousness, he found himself within a dungeon covered in sand.
‘So… I arrived here through a dimensional gateway inside the body of the Great Beast that swallowed Liu Xiao-Wo and me… Ouch, my head. This is insane.’
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